L.A. Wants Fewer Parking Podiums

Parking podiums—several stories of parking garage located above ground level—are a recurring controversy of new development in Los Angeles. In 2016, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning started to take action to curb the building typology. The challenges persists, and the City Planning Commission is the latest to weigh in on the issue.

"The advisory notice urges project applicants to minimize the amount of parking provided using zoning tools such as the Transit Oriented Communities Guidelines and other methods such as automated parking to reduce the amount of physical space required. Additionally, the notice suggests that all parking should be located below ground," reports Steven Sharp.

"For projects that do require above-grade parking, the garage levels should be fully integrated into its design, and therefore not recognizable as parking during daytime or nighttime hours," adds Sharp.

The expected effect of the Advisory Notice is unclear, according to Sharp, but additional measures to curb the parking podium epidemic could come through the city's forthcoming zoning code update.